BEDMINSTER -- A person driving the wrong way on Route 78 in Somerset County caused a multi-vehicle accident involving a charter bus carrying at least 40 people that left the driver of the car dead, police said.

Police said a Honda Civic heading westbound in the eastbound lane was sideswiped by an SUV and sent spinning into the path of a loaded charter bus this morning leaving the driver of the Honda Civic dead and two others injured

The 5:35 a.m. crash shut-down eastbound traffic entirely at one point in Somerset County, and left various lanes closed until the scene was completely cleared by 2:15 p.m., said Sgt. Stephen Jones, a State Police spokesman

The 37-year-old driver of the Honda, who was alone in the car, was pronounced dead at the scene, after the car and the bus came to rest in a wooded area, Jones said.

Jones said the bus driver, Richard Roach, 72, of New Kennsington, Pa., plus one of his 40 passengers, were treated for minor injuries at Morristown Memorial Hospital. Several other passengers complained of pain, but were not hospitalized, Jones said. Neither occupant of the SUV was hurt, he added.

Jones said the crash was under investigation, and no charges had been filed. It was not immediately clear where the driver of the Honda, a resident of Bethlehem, Pa., was headed to or from, or how long he’d been driving in the wrong direction. He said no drugs or alcohol were found in the car. The results of an autopsy preformed today would not be known for some time, Jones said.

The bus was operated by W.L. Roenigk Inc., of Pittsburgh. Frank Minnick, a dispatcher with the company, said it had been charted by a local group to go from Pittsburgh to Brooklyn. Minnick said he did not know the name of the group or its specific destination.